Historically, minor caliber (&lt;40 mm) weapon stations have been crew-operated with the crew providing both manual weapon movement and aiming. Sights generally were little more than iron reticles with gunnery limited by visual conditions. Such small caliber weapon stations offered no night capability and had limitations imposed by inclement weather such as smoke and fog, frequent conditions found in operational situations.
Recent advancements in day/night sights, laser ranging, stabilization, target acquisition and tracking and digital processing have led to a new generation of highly accurate weapon stations. These new weapon stations are capable of accurate target engagements twenty-four hours a day, even while being subjected to disturbances such as vibration and movement. While these performance improvements have been impressive, there has been a price to pay. That price has been an evolution toward remotely operated weapon stations with a significant increase in weight and complexity (cost). A typical control sequence for a remotely operated motorized weapon is shown in FIG. 5. In remotely operated weapon systems, target acquisition data, such as infrared imaging, laser ranging and stabilization are used to directly control a mechanical positioning device to automatically aim the gun. Because of the complexity and cost of modern fire control systems, they have not been used with minor caliber manually aimed guns. Since modern warfare is now dependent on twenty-four hour capability while providing superior fire control accuracy, it is necessary to develop a manually aimed gun having access to the sophisticated fire control technology of many remotely operated weapon stations.
The present invention utilizes modern fire control technology and provides (both day AND night) for manually aimed weapon stations.